1. Technical Field
The exemplary embodiments to a direct-connect fuse unit for a battery terminal and more particularly relates to a fuse unit that is directly connected to a terminal of a battery mounted on a motor vehicle.
2. Background Art
An electrical power terminal of a battery for a motor vehicle (hereinafter, referred to a battery terminal) is connected through a direct-connect fuse unit for the battery terminal to an output side electrical cable. An electrical power from the battery is supplied through an electrical junction box (a relay box, a fuse box, a junction box, or the like) connected to the output side electrical cable to various kinds of loads. If an excessive current flows in the electrical junction box, a fusing section of the fuse unit is fused to cut off the excessive current to the output side electrical cable, thereby protecting the various kinds of loads connected to the output side electrical cable at a downstream side. Such direct-connect fuse unit for the battery terminal has been disclosed in, for example, JP 2000-331591 A.
In a direct-connect fuse unit for a battery terminal, a conducting hardware is formed by pressing and punching a metallic sheet so that the conductive hardware is integrally provided with an input side terminal section to be connected to the battery terminal, an output side terminal section to be connected to the output side electrical cable, and a fusing section for interconnecting the input and output side terminal sections. A casing is molded of synthetic resin to be integrated with the conducting hardware. The casing serves to partially cover front and rear sides of the flat plate-like conducting hardware except the terminal sections and fusing section.
However, because the conducting hardware spreads in a flat plate-like manner in the conventional direct-connect fuse unit for the battery terminal, a footprint of the fuse unit around the battery terminal is likely to increase. If a plurality of output side terminal sections and fusing sections are provided on the conducting hardware, the fuse unit itself increases in size. Consequently, the fuse unit cannot be arranged in a limited space around the battery terminal.
Furthermore, because the casing is molded integrally with the conducting hardware, the output side terminal section is limited to a simple structure in which a stud bolt is provided on an exposed conducting hardware. Also, there is a problem that the electrical components that can be attached to the direct-connect fuse unit for the battery terminal will be subject to constraints.